This invention relates to a multiple function tray assembly, particularly for use by persons working with ceramic greenware and/or porcelain.
The steps involved in making ceramic ware include shaping a quantity of clay, allowing the clay to dry and form a relatively hard body referred to as greenware, firing the greenware to form a rigid bisque ware, applying a coat of stain, coloring and/or glaze to the bisque ware and firing again to fuse the coat with the clay.
A piece of greenware is usually cleaned and further shaped by hand. For example, a hobbyist in a pottery shop or at home may scrape the surface of the piece to smooth it or remove imperfections, and often a folded screen is used as a scraper. A typical piece has a bottom or base, and the base is scraped to produce a flat bottom surface.
As a result of the above scraping, the hobbyist or worker is frequently surrounded by fine clay dust which is difficult to control or gather.
As mentioned above, after the desired shape has been achieved and the piece of greenware has been fired, a coating of some kind is usually applied to the bisque ware. The coating is a rather thin liquid which is applied using a brush. This gives rise to another unsatisfactory situation because some of the coating often runs off the ware or drips from the brush. For a home hobbyist, for example, this can be an annoyance.
It is therefore a general object of the present invention to provide an improved tray assembly which collects clay dust when cleaning greenware, forms a flat screen surface which is useful in shaping the greenware, and may be used when applying a coating to a piece.